Defying convention

“A sudden stoppage of a rotor blade into water is a bad as it gets,” Maloney told Australian Aviation, vividly recounting the ditching on May 7 from which he and his observer survived uninjured while undertaking an air-to-air shoot over the harbour.

“The tail boom suffered three main rotor blade strikes at rollover. None of the blade strikes penetrated the tail boom. As a manufacturer we were pleased to see the helicopter complete when hoisted from the water with only relatively minor damage. The main rotor blades were still attached to the rotor head, the gearbox still attached to the main frame and the fuselage. In fact the main frame was still pressurised and undamaged as was main rotor shaft, main and tail rotor gear box and the tail rotor.

“Whilst the cause is easily rectified and is a fact-of life, what helicopter industry professionals, test pilots and certification authority staff are most interested in is what happened immediately at the event through to the end. Many certification type questions have been answered – positively,” Maloney offered matter-of-factly.

The event that was seen on television as the likely end of the project was, in fact, a passage along the path of proving the strength of the New Zealand-designed and built Composite Helicopters KC518 to airworthiness authorities.

Fresh back from Heli-Russia where Maloney was promoting the composite helicopter, he said: “We have met people from all over the world. Interest and support for the helicopter is strong.” That simply gave him more encouragement.

Genesis

“Helicopter manufacturing has not changed in 30 years,” Maloney explained about the reasoning behind the concept. ”Historically it has been sheet metal, rivet, nuts and bolts and many hundred’s of hours of labour. With our composite experience over the past 18 years and as a licensed engineer and helicopter pilot with 39 years’ experience, we decided it was time for a change and we would be that point of difference.”

Maloney and his team set about identifying a niche market for a five-seat VIP/six-seat utility helicopter with a spacious cabin, comfortable ride and ergonomic harmonics.

“******** Our design had to be sexy, have a low direct operating cost, not be subject to corrosion and have on-condition composite main and tail rotor********. We also wanted to embody an energy-absorbing fuselage and crashworthy seats. A tall order for any design team – and we have done it! We have produced the world’s first helicopter comprising an all carbon fibre/kevlar fuselage based on a true monocoque. Not bad from a small island that has a reputation of producing world champions!” he boasts.

“Our design had to be sexy, have a low direct operating cost, not be subject to corrosion and have on-condition composite main and tail rotor.”
Peter Maloney

A read of the specifications of the KC518 and one sees where the influence for the aircraft’s design has come from. It’s again – unconventional.

Why wouldn’t you design a modern helicopter around the Great White Shark?

“It’s the world’s most efficient fluid-dynamic shape. Unchanged for millions
of years,” Maloney extolled, tracing the shape of the shark as he described the elements of the KC518 that give it its form.

“We’ve achieved a smooth aerodynamic shape transitioning from a large spacious cabin with excellent visibility through a sleek center section incorporating huge storage areas into a streamlined empennage terminating in a powerful ducted fan tail rotor.
“Next we tucked the snout of the shark in to provide a smooth transition around a generous instrument panel and good leg room.”

Continuing with the anthropomorphic descriptions, Maloney added: “This brought us to consider the ideal position for the main rotor mast. Again taking a leaf out of natures best, the ventral fin looked ideal. We separated the fuel load into three tanks to allow for customer options and a futureproof design.

“In fact, though, we are not the only ones to turn to nature. A German University recently negated the effects of retreating blade root stall based on studies of a whale! And the AgustaWestland Project Zero bears a strong resemblance to a manta ray.

Beyond the marketing hyperbole, which certainly engages those with an eye for innovation, Maloney’s reasoning is clearly crafted from his experience in the industry.

“The Composite Helicopter design objective was to ultimately achieve a type-certified helicopter that meets the type design requirements of FAA 14CFR Part 27 Normal Category – rotorcraft and along the way to certification to make the helicopter available as an Experimental – Amateur Build (E-AB) kit helicopter.

“Many aircraft over the years have begun life as an experimental aircraft in the lead up to type certification. We are no different. Our advantage is that our helicopter is actually very easy to build and requires no special jigs, fixtures or special tools.
It took quite a while – several months in fact to identify the starting point to begin the fuselage.

Maloney said a significant hurdle was to design a drive train that achieved a low build cost, high time between overhaul, low component overhaul cost and most importantly high reliability and redundancy.

“To achieve this we leveraged off the light-weight carbon fibre/kevlar fuselage structure and this has resulted in a robust design with a target time between overhaul (TBO) of 5000hrs – twice that of most light single engine helicopters. It has never been our objective to design the lightest six-seat turbine helicopter. We accepted what would be a good design empty weight for a six-seat helicopter and a target entry-level gross weight leaving us with a very good comparable payload. In achieving this we believe we have produced the helicopter of the future and have changed the face of helicopter manufacturing.”

“Our part count is low, labour content low. This is reflected in our ability to deliver real value to the end user at a realistic cost and still provide a good return for the business owners.

The advances in composite materials means the KC518 could not have been developed even 10 years ago. Modern resin and hybrid fibre technology coupled with the advances achieved by New Zealand composites engineers have laid the platform for the success of the project from a structural perspective.

To power the design Composite Helicopters selected the ubiquitous RR250-series engine. A zero-hour TSO T63-700 (320shp) engine was used in the prototype. The four-blade main rotor at 380rpm has demonstrated lifting 16.2lbs per shaft horsepower, which equates to 3000lbs/185shp skids clear with the prototype airfoil’s eight-and-a-half inch chord. Composite Helicopters is planning to install a nine-and-a-half inch chord carbon fibre main rotor blades with swept tips. This change is expected to deliver a significant jump in performance over the prototype main rotor.

A ducted fan was incorporated into the design to offer a 30 per cent efficiency improvement over conventional open blade designs. The four-blade tail rotor runs at 3008rpm and produces 96kts of thrust at 17 degree of pitch.

The combination of ducted-fan tail rotor and main rotor configuration means noise emissions from the KC518 are low. During testing the team recorded R22, R44, Bell 206, AS350 and EC130 helicopters in the hover and at takeoff, and the composite helicopter proved to be quieter.
Prospects

Despite the setback in Auckland Harbour, the KC518 continues to fulfill its original design criteria.

Long before the incident in Auckland, Composite Helicopters’ philosophy on the integrity of the design was centred around redundancy and reliability.

The main rotor head / blade cuff assembly was structurally tested to 15.8t, twice the loads at maximum rotor over-speed, which Maloney said “was still serviceable after the test”. The tail rotor head / blade spindle assembly was tested to 6.5t and remained serviceable, while eight carbon fibre tail rotor blades underwent testing to destruction to prove the design and production process prior to actual flight testing.

All of these factors, Maloney said, were tested – and proven again in real life – in the Auckland incident.

The now proven robustness and damage tolerance of the design, Maloney believes, will suit the composite helicopter to light corporate, police, news service, pilot training and various commercial applications once certified, which he still hopes to achieve in around three years.

“It is also our objective to make the helicopter available to various militaries for pilot training, as a scout, armed/unarmed. The composite helicopter is also ideally suited to UAV applications,” he noted, reflecting the recent advances by Eurocopter in developing and test-flying an unmanned EC145.

“We have exhibited the helicopter at Oshkosh and at the NZ Flair airshow here in New Zealand. Interest in the composite helicopter has been exceptional from all over the world.”

Maloney doesn’t dare to crystal ball gaze about sales figures, yet he is quietly confident that based on worldwide reaction and interest in the helicopter it will be commercially successful. He prefers to concentrate now with the design team on developing a failsafe isolation damper, which has been identified as the cause of the ditching.

Maloney goes on to explain: “Isolation dampers have been used as main rotor suspension and vibration dampers for many years and our configuration is no different, for example, to the Robinson. Unfortunately these dampers do not have a failsafe configuration. In our case the aft left and right damper had become contaminated with hydraulic oil and unbeknown to us the aft dampers had deteriorated. In flight at gross weight this eventually allowed the aft dampers to compress more than the forward dampers and this exaggerated the engagement angle of the forward main rotor gear box drive coupling resulting in the inner of the coupling overheating which then failed.

“Interest in the composite helicopter has been exceptional from all over the world.”
Peter Maloney

“It is ironic,” Maloney explains further, “that only three weeks prior we had actually had the couplings apart for a routine inspection and they had appeared as new. In addition to the isolation damper failsafe we plan to increase the drive coupling angle tolerance.

Once rectified and approved as an experimental-amateur-built (E-AB) aircraft, he believes he has “a very marketable product”.

“We are confident the E-AB market alone could result in 250 plus sales over the coming years leading to certification. New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada and the USA are our main focus regions as this is where the majority of interest has come from thus far. Having said this however we have interest from countries all over the world. Our E-AB kit acceptance process will begin with the CAA and then follow other aviation authorities with our delivery program.

But does Maloney believe the KC518’s reputation has been damaged with the Auckland incident? With orders already being taken and regulators no doubt cautiously viewing the aircraft’s progress, he remains committed to the aircraft’s future.

**********“I do not believe the reputation of the composites helicopter has been damaged by the incident. Quite the opposite ******** – I think our openness in identifying the cause and the demonstrated ease of dealing with a primary drive loss, sedate entry to the autorotation, the low rate of descent – 34 seconds from 700 ft – and a safe ditching has had a sobering effect across the industry in just how safe the composite helicopter is.

“I do not believe the reputation of the composite helicopter has been damaged. Quite the opposite….
Peter Maloney

“Add to this the comparison by industry as to the lack of structural damage to the composite helicopter when compared to other helicopter types having suffered a similar ditching event or even a main rotor blade striking a rope as was the case of the AS350 breakup in Auckland Viaduct harbor back in Nov 2011.”

Maloney said worldwide there are many hundreds of owners of type-certified helicopters who use their helicopters solely for private purposes. Many of these owners are showing a keen interest in the modern technology 5/6 seat turbine composite helicopter at a flyaway price of say US$450,000 compared to say a four-seat piston-engine helicopter at US$510,000. There are also quite a few private owners of type-certified light turbine helicopters in the US$900,000 through to US$3.4m who are seriously asking themselves the question – why not!”

Maloney cites the increase in not only popularity but sophistication of E-AB aircraft to support the conviction of selling the KC518 initially in kit form.

“The performance of many kit aircraft exceed the performance of comparable type certified aircraft at often less than a quarter of the cost. The composite helicopter is no different. Typically a kit builder is very attentive to detail and seeks builder assistance from licenced engineers when needed. There is no reason why the quality of a modern E-AB aircraft cannot be very comparable with an off the line production aircraft,” he explained. “When we look at the Experimental – Amateur Build market it is hugely different to what the industry used to be like 30 years ago.

Proving

“Are we happy with the way KC is developing? Absolutely,” Maloney said emphatically.

If the aircraft is to make it to the market, the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (NZCAA), while described as having been very supportive of the project thus far, must first overcome the obvious failing that caused the Auckland incident.

Maloney remains pragmatic, however.

“Old proven designs fail now and again and usually for reasons traced back into the history or use of the aircraft. For that matter even new designs have been known to suffer failure.”

If able to overcome the approval challenges, Maloney and the Composite Helicopters team see a strong future for the KC518.

“We have a shareholder structure in place that will allow us to continue to develop and introduce the composite helicopter as a E-AB kit. Our strategy is to continue to develop the helicopter and its production line through sales. When we are ready we will then announce our type-certification program.

“As with any small start-up company, capital and cash flow is crucial. Funds are spent wisely and priority given to satisfying the immediate market requirement – being the E-AB market. As a group we are also very mindful of the end game and that is to become a major player in the helicopter industry as a reputable helicopter manufacturer.

“We recognise the opportunity and the helicopter industry like what they see in the composite helicopter. As owners we are receptive to a major investor, which would allow us to more rapidly grow the business and bring forward our type certification program and future developments,” Maloney concluded, enthusiastic about the potential, and surprisingly buoyed by the results of an incident that in any other helicopter could have had a very different outcome! .